Qatar adds Audi Formula One team to its sporting line-up Posted on 30/11/2024 Audi is set to make its Formula One debut in the 2026 season. (AFP pic) DOHA: Qatar is buying a significant minority stake in Audi’s Formula One team, the Gulf country’s estimated US$510 billion sovereign wealth fund and the German carmaker said today. The holding will be almost a third of the team, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters after the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) deal with Audi was announced during the first day of the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate of the season. Financial terms of the deal, which builds on the Qatari state’s global sports portfolio, were not disclosed. The QIA also owns a 17% stake in Germany’s Volkswagen, which owns Audi. Audi, Volkswagen’s luxury brand, is set to make its Formula One debut in the 2026 season and turn Switzerland-based Sauber into its factory team, after flagging in March it would acquire 100% of the firm. Sauber is the only team yet to score a point in 22 Formula One races this season. Qatar’s other sporting holdings include France’s Ligue 1 club Paris St-Germain, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a state-backed body founded by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. QSI also acquired World Padel Tour from its organisers Damm last year and unified the world’s professional tour under one entity, ending a power struggle in the sport. The Gulf state’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, son of a former prime minister, last year bid US$6 billion for English Premier League club Manchester United before dropping out. News
‘It’s excessive and not right’: Pakatan lawmaker calls on Bank Negara to probe planned insurance premium hike Posted on 27/11/2024 KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Sim Tze Tzin, Member of Parliament for Bayan Baru (PKR), today urged Bank Negara Malaysia to intervene and probe the planned increase of insurance premiums, calling it excessive and bordering exploitative. The call comes after the media reported that premiums could go up between 40… Read More
School van driver killed in collision with transport van in Bintulu Posted on 20/11/2024 BINTULU, Nov 20 — A 66-year-old school van driver perished in a collision with a worker transport van at Mile 15, Jalan Bintulu-Miri here last night. The Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) in a statement said the school van driver was pronounced dead by the paramedics at the scene after… Read More
‘Nobody can reverse’ US progress on clean energy, says Biden Posted on 18/11/2024 President Joe Biden poses after signing a proclamation designating Nov 17 as International Conservation Day during a visit to the Amazon in Brazil. (AP pic) MANAUS: US president Joe Biden on Sunday touted his administration’s “clean energy revolution” during a visit to the Amazon in Brazil adding, in reference to president-elect… Read More